Paper Conservation: Decisions & Compromises

Conservation of a Book of Hours from Mafra’s National Palace collection:
Between Technique and Ethics
Rita Araújo | Conceição Casanova | Maria João Melo | Ana Lemos |
Vânia S. F. Muralha | Marcello Picollo
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Conservation-Restauration Department,
Institute of Medieval Studies, VICARTE, New University, Lisbon, Portugal
IICT, Lisbon, Portugal
Institute of Applied Physics “Nello Carrara”, National Research Council, Florence, Italy
the interventions suffered throughout its existence.
An interdisciplinary team studied the historic
context of this prayer book, its techniques and
material composition, its conservation condition,
and decided the curative conservation approach
(Araújo, 2012). In this article we intend
to describe all the steps taken and explain the
decision making, taking into account conservation
ethics.
Fig. 1: Manuscript of the cofre no. 24, dated ca. 1420 and ca. 1470, in use
in Autun the Funeral Procession. Image © PNF
Introduction
One of the characteristics of the Books of ours
produced in Europe in the 15th century is the
richness of the materials used in the decoration
of the devotional images, representing the social
and economic power of its owner and transforming
them into luxury objects. This was one
reason why these books became “best-sellers”,
carefully donated from generation to generation.
The core point of this article is the presentation
of the ethical approach for the conservation of a
French Book of Hours dating from the early 15th
century, now stored in the Library of the 18th
century Mafra National Palace (Lisbon, Portugal),
based on the study and comprehension of the
techniques and materials used. In fact, for the
full appreciation and understanding of the work
involved in the construction of the Book of ours
and the development of a conservation strategy,
it is crucial to know which materials were used,
determine their conservation status, and attest
Identification
A brief look at the Book of Hours, cofre no. 24
Figure 1: The original codex’s body dated from
ca. 1420 and three leaves were added later, in the
second half of the 15th century. This manuscript,
in ‘Use of Autun’, measures 197 mm x 135 mm
x 50 mm and consists of 181 parchment leaves,
with 14 lines of text, written in Latin and French.
Among those, there are 14 leaves with illuminations,
on a text of three, four, or five lines.
The Books of ours of Mafra Library has French
origins and different characteristics, both in
technique and building of colors. The manuscript
of cofre no. 24 is, from a material point of
view, the most luxurious and decorative in the
collection. However, it is also the most deteriorated
one. The bookbinding is a full calf brown
leather, gold decorated on the spine with the
inscription: Heures de Votes (Hours of Votes). The
bookbinding was probably produced later in Portugal,
since its features and decorative materials
are typical of the late 18th / early 19th centuries.
Our analysis aimed to identify the materials,
the color production techniques and develop a
palette, an element that may allow the characterization
of a particular workshop or artist. The
study was focused on two colors, pink and blue,
that according to a study carried out earlier (Villela-Petit,
2007) were two pigments (Brazilwood
lake and lapis lazuli), mainly used by several Pari-
ICOM-CC Graphic Documents Working Group Interim Meeting | Vienna 17 – 19 April 2013
97